Social justice: Data shows Indian government doesn't walk the talk on reservations

• The data from Rajya Sabha shows that, of the total 457 serving secretaries, joint secretaries and additional secretaries to the government of India, merely 12% are SCs, STs and OBCs.
  
• A majority of these secretaries are from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). However, reservations do not apply at the time of selection of the officers.
  
• The government mandates 25.7% reservation to the OBCs, 15% to the SCs and 7.5% to the STs in government jobs.

The world is celebrating Social Justice Equality Day to promote gender equality, the rights of migrants and native citizens. And the makings of Indian government itself is far off from setting the tone for this.

The data from Rajya Sabha shows that, of the total 457 serving secretaries, joint secretaries and additional secretaries to the government of India, only 20 are from scheduled castes; 17 scheduled tribes; and 19 from the OBC category. That is a mere 12% participation from the backward sections of the society.

A majority of these secretaries are from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). However, reservations do not apply at the time of selection of the officers.

“Selection of secretary, additional secretary and joint secretary-level officers is made from the pool of officers who are empanelled for that particular post. If there isn’t an adequate number of officers belonging to the SC/ST/OBC categories in the pool, their number is obviously going to be smaller,” The Print had reported.

	Secretaries in the Indian government	Joint Secretary	Additional Secretary
Total	89	275	93
Scheduled Castes	1	6	13
Scheduled Tribes	3	5	9
OBCs	0	0	19

The government mandates 25.7% reservation to the OBCs, 15% to the SCs and 7.5% to the STs in government jobs. The data on representation in the central government paints a grim picture of the caste discrimination in the country. Locals from various states have now come out seeking reservations in government as well as private jobs.

Recently, pro-Kannada organisations in Karnataka observed bandh demanding reservations. They were seeking reservations for Kannadigas in central government departments for ‘Group C’ and ‘Group D’ jobs. It also demanded a 65% quota for ‘Group A’ jobs.

Meanwhile, the judgement from the Supreme Court on reservations on promotions in government departments to provide equal employment opportunities — turned into a heated political debate in the parliament a political debate on the reservation system and the provisions under the constitution.

This was after the apex court upheld a petition by the Uttarakhand government against the state High Court that sought reservations for the SC, ST and OBC category for promotions in government service.

“In view of the law laid down by this court, there is no doubt that the State Government is not bound to make reservations. There is no fundamental right which inheres in an individual to claim reservation in promotions,” a bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Hemant Gupta said.

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